LONDON.- The eighth edition of the LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair, Berkeley Square, draws to an end accompanied by positive sales for participating dealers. This year’s LAPADA Fair attracted over 20,000 visitors from the UK and abroad. Sponsored by Delancey, the Fair has become a must-visit event for international collectors, buyers and interior designers looking to source coveted works of art, antiques, design and decorative arts from trusted LAPADA Association members.

Attendees
Dealers noted a significant number of international visitors, especially from the USA, Australia, Kuwait, Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

Many high-profile attendees visited the Fair, including actors Eddie Redmayne and Olivia Corfield, fashion designer Tory Burch and her fiancé Pierre-Yves Roussel (LVMH Fashion Group CEO), Princess Michael of Kent, the Al Nahyan family, writer and creator of Downton Abbey Julian Fellowes with his wife Lady Fellowes, photographer Alison Jackson, and interior designers Rose Uniacke and Guy Goodfellow. Additionally, HRH The Duke of Gloucester, HRH Princess Eugenie of York, Sir Ben Kingsley, Andrew Marr, executive chairman of Cartier Arnaud Bamberger, Prue Leith, Lord Rose of Monewden, comedian Alexander Armstrong, President of Condé Nast International Nicholas Coleridge and BBC weather presenter Carol Kirkwood, visited the Fair during the ARNI Charity Party.

Sales Highlights
Sales were strong across the board, with notable sales in all categories including contemporary and fine art, jewellery, silver, furniture and objets d’art.

Jeroen Markies Art Deco had “another great fair”, commenting that LAPADA was his “favourite fair of the year.” He sold across the board, including two dining suites, three cocktail cabinets, a Chiparus bronze for £20,000 and lots of Lalique opalescence glass, to new and existing international clients from USA, Australia and Kuwait. Hickmet Fine Arts also had a successful Fair, David Hickmet noted, “the attendance was consistently high every day and we were fortunate to meet a number of new international clients with items being shipped to Russia, Brazil and Texas, USA. In fact, some new clients remarked that 'this is the greatest antique show we have ever visited’.”

Witney Antiques had a great fair. They sold 14 objects in total, including an exceptionally fine and extravagantly worked mid-17th century raised work panel that had won the award for Best Textile in the LAPADA Best Stand & Object Awards.

Ellison Fine Art had a successful fair, selling 24 portrait miniatures, including a Nicholas Hilliard of Queen Elizabeth I for £10,000 and another work for £13,500. The dealer noted that ‘the international traffic was higher than usual’.

Mark Goodger – Hampton Antiques sold across the board, including tea caddies, sewing boxes, a cigar box for £5,000, Asprey table lighters, many sales were made to new clients, including some based in the USA. The Fair is ‘a great shop window’ commented Brian Watson Antique Glass, who enjoyed visits from a number of important museum curators, including the Corning Museum of Glass, New York, USA, and the V&A.

Jewellery dealer, Anthea Gesua of Anthea AG Antiques Ltd, had an excellent fair, 25 wearable pieces of jewellery were purchased from her, including one for £25,000. She noted that, “the customer base has been excellent here, we’ve met a lot of new contacts, 60 - 70% of our sales have been to new clients, most of these have been UK based. LAPADA has a fantastic location and good, sophisticated clients, it’s the right Fair for us.” Moira Fine Jewellery had a good fair, they found a buyer for a rare double sided, 19th century, Swiss, enamel, canton bracelet. First time dealer to the Fair, A Rakyan Collection made numerous good sales and was pleased to have met a number of potentially important new clients. Sam Loxton of Lucas Rarities was impressed by ‘the calibre of visitors at the Fair’, which resulted in good sales of period jewellery and contemporary art works by Dale VN Marshall.

Sales of contemporary art were strong. Jenna Burlingham Fine Art who shows works by 20th century and contemporary British artists noted a more international clientele at this year’s Fair. This was the 4th LAPADA Fair for Store Street Gallery who saw an interest in all the artists they exhibited. “This year’s Fair has been a busy one for us, we have seen a lot of interior designers at our stand and made a number of sales of works priced around £3,000.” Tanya Baxter Contemporary met lots of new international clients. The gallery sold a Zhao Kalin work for around £50,000 to a Qatari buyer, a pair of Lucy Poett bronze horses for £20,000 to a Silicon Valley media mogul, a Zhuang Hong Yi work to a new Brazilian client for £25,000 and a Pip Todd Warmoth painting to a new South African client for £18,000, amongst other work. New dealers Whitford Fine Art also noted the number of new international clients they met, they sold a couple of Frank Avray Wilson works, each for a 5-figure sum, amongst other things.

Dealers of fine quality antique silverware, I.Franks had their ‘best fair to date’, making a significant sale of a royal piece to a new, international client. Mary Cooke Antiques sold a number of high ticket items, including a pair of tureens made specifically for Hooton Pagnell Hall by renowned 18th century London silversmith James Young. J. Baptista, Lda also had a good fair, selling a number of silver pieces, to new and existing clients, including an Art Deco vase and a pineapple box.

New exhibitor, Richard Hoppé Fine Antiques who deals in continental glass, scent bottles and ceramic tiles received a lot of interest in the tiles. A set from Hemiksem, Belgium, circa 1900, featuring a cockatoo and macaw parrot, sold, as did an Art Deco pair of polychrome furniture tiles by Carl Luber and a Pierre D'avesn fish bowl. The dealer commented, “the quality of contacts I have made are excellent - I’ll certainly be back.”

Furniture sales were particularly good at the Fair. Lennox Cato commented, “this year’s Fair has been better than previous ones.” The dealer sold a number of items to English and American buyers, including a Victorian safe disguised as a Wellington chest from Sampson Mordan & Co. Holly Johnson saw the sale of an Osvaldo Borsani table for £26,000, as well as some smaller pieces by designers such as Mouseman and Fornasetti. The modern design furniture dealer commented “its nice to see a younger crowd here, there are good potential clients and we will definitely be coming back.” Specialist in 18th and 19th century Swedish furniture and new dealer to the Fair, D. Larsson Interior & Antikhandel sold a pair of black barrel chairs and a cabinet both for 4-figures, amongst other pieces. Geoffrey Stead sold a pair of 18th century Italian marquetry commodes for a 5-figure sum during the preview. Contemporary art works by Mimi Roberts on his stand were also very popular, with 48 selling in total. Craig Carrington sold a number of important neoclassical objects, including two rare neoclassical pietra dura inlaid marble tops.

Rebecca Davies, Chief Executive of LAPADA the Association of Art & Antiques Dealers comments: “The Fair looked better than ever this year. This was thanks to our dealers, who brought exceptional works and went to such great efforts in the presentation of their stands. We are also fortunate to be working with the talented Micha Weidmann and his studio, with whom we have developed the sophisticated LAPADA Fair interior, marquee facade and brand identity over the last three years.”

Mieka Sywak, LAPADA Fair Director, comments: “The LAPADA team work incredibly hard all year round to deliver a Fair that attracts the right clients for our dealers; from the design, promotion and infrastructure, all aspects are carefully considered. We were pleased with the results this year and feedback from our dealers has been positive. We are grateful to all our partners for their support, particularly our generous principal sponsor Delancey. We were also delighted by the response to Chitra Collection highlights exhibition, the first independent exhibition ever shown at a LAPADA Fair.”